Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch educational publisher and owner of the LexisNexis information service, saw first-half profits fall 48 per cent and now plans a share sale to raise money to reduce £5bn of debts.

The company made £161million ($264million) in the six months ended June 30, compared with £309million in the same period in 2008.

It said advertising and promotion markets had been affected by the global economic downturn. Revenue rose 3 per cent to £3.1billion.

Reed Elsevier: Produces business and science publications such as The Lancet, New Scientist and Farmers Weekly

It said it had intended to fund its 2008 acquisition of ChoicePoint
Inc., a U.S.-based provider of data services to the insurance industry,
for $4.1billion partly through the disposal of its Reed Business
Information unit.

But that sale never went through due to the credit crisis and a deterioration in the economic outlook.

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'Last year's acquisition of ChoicePoint and the terminated sale of
RBI have given us more debt than is prudent in current economic
conditions,' said chief executive Ian Smith.

'The equity raising will address our stretched credit metrics and
ensure that we are appropriately resourced to invest in the business,
capture market opportunities and increase competitive differentiation.'

Reed Elsevier said it intended to place up to 109.2 million new
ordinary shares in London-based Reed Elsevier and up to 63,030,989 new
ordinary shares in Amsterdam-based Reed Elsevier NV. Both amounts
represent approximately 9.9 per cent of share capital.